8 September 2026
Riccardo Pace accepts the office of Grand Master and President of the Order of the Knights and Dames of the Holy Grail
Riccardo Pace has accepted the office of Grand Master and President of the Order of the Knights and Dames of the Holy Grail, the international Christian order of chivalry constituted in collaboration with the International Association of the Camino del Santo Grial, under the patronage of its President, Ana María Mafé García.
As Grand Master, Riccardo Pace directs the life of the Order, presides over the Council of Honour, appoints the Ambassadors of the Order by magistral decree and grants admission to the Order. At the end of the annual pilgrimage along the Camino del Santo Grial he confers investiture upon the new Knights and Dames.
The Grand Master in brief
Who is the Grand Master of the Order?
The Grand Master and President of the Order of the Knights and Dames of the Holy Grail is Riccardo Pace.
What is the role of the Grand Master?
The Grand Master is the head of the Order. He directs its life and its relations, appoints its Ambassadors, grants admission and confers the investiture of Knights and Dames.
Who is the Patron of the Order?
The Patron of the Order is Ana María Mafé García, President of the International Association of the Camino del Santo Grial. The heavenly Patron of the Order is Saint Lawrence.
Message of the Grand Master
Dear friends,
our age has given us every comfort and taken away many of the reasons to live. Never have so many been so connected and so alone. The Manifesto of the Holy Grail calls this the collapse of the Earthly City, and it asks each of us a simple question: to which city do we belong?
Saint Augustine taught that history is shaped by two loves: the love of self, which builds the City of Man, and the love of God, which builds the City of God. The Order of the Knights and Dames of the Holy Grail exists to build, in our time and across every border, a living part of that second city.
It does so in the way the Manifesto describes: through discipline, a rule of prayer and of mastery of mind and body kept every day; through faith, a formation in Scripture and in the great Christian tradition that no modern decay can corrupt; and through pilgrimage, the road of the Holy Chalice walked together each year from the mountains of Aragon to Valencia.
At the centre of all this is the Chalice itself, and the Blood it received. Our motto asks that this Blood wash the world and purify us. We walk in the footsteps of Saint Lawrence, who guarded the Chalice and taught that the treasure of the Church is the person in need.
We do not ask perfection of those who come to us. We ask that they be willing to begin.
Ad Sanctum Graal. Pro Gloria Dei.
Riccardo Pace
President and Grand Master
